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Will Erik Karlsson make the HOF?

Will Erik Karlsson make the HOF someday?

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Didalee Hed

Didalee Hed

I’m trying to understand
Sep 14, 2019
1,963
2,005
Probably, and he gets in sooner each year early he retires from that contract. It’s going to be quite negative from now on.
 
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SENSational

Registered User
Mar 26, 2004
2,843
337
Ottawa
I Hate Chris Butler said:
Karlsson wasn't good at defense when he was winning the Norris. If anyone could buck the trend of 2 Norris wins being an automatic induction, it's him.
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Disregarding the fact that he was a top 3 player in the league at one point, this isn't even true. Karlsson may not have been the best defender in the league, but he was never bad one. Karlsson being bad at defence was always overstated, his skating bailed him out most of the time.
 
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bambamcam4ever

107 and counting
Feb 16, 2012
14,414
6,448
SENSational said:
Disregarding the fact that he was a top 3 player in the league at one point, this isn't even true. Karlsson may not have been the best defender in the league, but he was never bad one. Karlsson being bad at defence was always overstated, his skating bailed him out most of the time.
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He was always poor away from the puck in his own zone, but did had other elite abilities to minimize those situations.
 
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jbeck5

jbeck5

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Jan 26, 2009
16,315
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People are remembering Karlsson standing around clueless in the defensive zone and saying he was brutal defensively.

But If you actually watched him in Ottawa, there were countless times where a star player was coming in on a dangerous rush, and Karlsson's world class skating and stick skills allowed him to close in and swoop in and effortlessly steal the puck and skate the other way for an odd man rush.

It was like "Ovechkin coming in...whoops, Karlsson just took the puck with ease"

"Eric Staal down the wing...oh, now Karlsson is speeding back up the other way"

Like stealing candy from a baby.

So though Karlsson wasnt great at positioning, he was often one of the best at stealing pucks, similar to a stone but on defense. Pretty sure Karlsson used to be near or at the top in takeaways by defenseman.
 
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ESH

Registered User
Jun 19, 2011
5,308
3,415
jbeck5 said:
People are remembering Karlsson standing around clueless in the defensive zone and saying he was brutal defensively.

But If you actually watched him in Ottawa, there were countless times where a star player was coming in on a dangerous rush, and Karlsson's world class skating and stick skills allowed him to close in and swoop in and effortlessly steal the puck and skate the other way for an odd man rush.

It was like "Ovechkin coming in...whoops, Karlsson just took the puck with ease"

"Eric Staal down the wing...oh, now Karlsson is speeding back up the other way"

Like stealing candy from a baby.

So though Karlsson wasnt great at positioning, he was often one of the best at stealing pucks, similar to a stone but on defense. Pretty sure Karlsson used to be near or at the top in takeaways by defenseman.
Click to expand...

I always thought that Karlsson’s positioning was actually a strong point in his defensive game when comparing him to other offensive defensemen like Burns or Josi
 
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jbeck5

jbeck5

Registered User
Jan 26, 2009
16,315
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ESH said:
I always thought that Karlsson’s positioning was actually a strong point in his defensive game when comparing him to other offensive defensemen like Burns or Josi
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I think he was actually good at most things defensively but would often get caught making mistakes.

When I say positioning, there were a lot of times where he wasn't sure if he should stay infront of the net or attack the puck carrier and would kinda do a bit of both while effectively doing neither.

But once he engaged on the puck carrier, you knew he would get the puck and be a one man break out the other way.

Another thing though, is, especially later on, is that he seemed to have stopped skating hard the whole time. Yes, injuries have effected his elite skating ability, but he also often just started to get caught flat footed more and more often and often stopped putting in the effort. I think it was against Carolina where you kept seeing him skate hard back and skate hard up the ice non stop. Now he's often coasting and skating half speed. He doesn't seem to have the mentality of "I'm gonna make something happen every single shift" anymore. That drive seems to be completely gone. He doesn't care to get the puck away from the opponent right away like before and he doesn't seem to care to dash up the ice right away when he has the puck like he used to. It's sad to see.



Speaking of his skating:

 
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